Staying Energized – How To Motivate Yourself To Go To The Gym

Whether you’re sitting on the couch watching Netflix, starting your grad school application, or training for the next marathon event in your city, staying motivated to work out and achieve your fitness goals is never an easy task.

In fact, many of us have experienced a lack of motivation at some point in our lives, which makes sticking with our fitness goals even more difficult. We might set out to perform a fitness task but midway through – or even before starting it – we lose the motivation to follow it through, and so the task never gets done or gets put on hold for another day. Even if the task is something important as going to rehab once a week for a work-related injury.

Going to the gym can be a rewarding and mind-clearing experience. While it isn’t so hard during the hot summer months to get up and go, it can be extremely different during the winter time to stay energized when you see its 10 degrees outside. But the truth is, your body requires a different mindset – especially during the colder months of the year.

So, what’s the best way to stay motivated and energized about going to the gym? Well, here are some tips to help keep you motivated.

Get Rid of Those Invisible Barriers: As mentioned before, it can be really difficult to get out of bed in the morning and head over to the gym. During this time of year, the main reason for that is due to the cold weather, of course. For many, this creates an invisible barrier that prevents almost everyone from exercising.

That’s why identifying the barriers and coming up with a systematic plan to overcome them is key to your fitness success. For example, if getting out of bed proves to be a lot more difficult than you expected because of the weather, then get your gym clothes out and ready the night before. If you have physical pain such as knee problems that prevent you from exercising during the cooler months, consider going to a doctor or checking out different types of knee braces. An alternative route could be drinking a little more coffee or setting an alarm far away from your bedside that requires you to get up and turn it off.

Find a Gym You Like: According to Statista, there are approximately 36,000 fitness locations scattered throughout the U.S., but not every gym will be right for you. When looking for a gym to join, take into consideration your day-to-day activities and what makes you comfortable. If you like swimming, for instance, make sure the gym has a pool that’s heated during the winter months. On the other hand, if you love spending time practicing yoga, make sure the area surrounding the gym is quiet and doesn’t have a lot of traffic or construction going on.

If you’re paying every month for a membership, you should at least be able to exercise without the hassle of battling traffic and running short on equipment, right? If, however, you’re on a strict budget, then you’ll more than likely have to reconsider things. In other words, rather than finding a gym that meets your fitness expectations, find one that’s within your budget. With 36,000 gyms out there, you should be able to find one that works for you.

Set Reasonable Goals: The first thing most of us do immediately after joining a gym is analyze or check out the environment. This process involves seeing who’s lifting what, how strong each person is, and who’s got the fittest body you might be striving for. The problem with this method, however, is that everyone’s body type is different, meaning that what worked for one person might not work for you.

So if your goal is to get a six pack, take baby steps to see it through. In other words, don’t expect a six pack overnight. Seeing other people in the gym working out with heavy weights can be intimidating and/or motivating. But the truth is, the person working out next to you didn’t get that body overnight. It took years of dedication, months of consuming the right nutrients through various healthy snacks and proteins, and of course, sacrifice.

After you’ve reached your fitness goal, set another one. That way you’re always working towards something and have the energy to get out of bed during those cold winter days.

Track Your Overall Progress: Nothing kills motivation like going to the gym almost every day of the week and feeling like your progress is going nowhere. Don’t worry, though, as long as you’re going every day and breaking a sweat, chances are, you’re making progress towards your fitness goal. It can be difficult to notice the transformation process over the course of a few months, but it’s there. That’s why tracking your workout is important when trying to stay energized and motivated.

What steps can you take?

You can keep track of progress by keeping track of your weight. This gives you a physical record of your weight loss and muscle gain. If taking a notebook is too much of a hassle for you, take notes on your phone, or use another digital source that you can easily access without being connected to the internet.

It’s also a good idea to measure your body fat percentage. This allows you to make sure that you’re losing fat and not muscle. In the long run, stick with your plan. The results with will be worth it in the end. Don’t let yourself be one of many who never achieves their bodybuilding potential.

Related Slideshow: The 7 Best Health and Fitness Apps

MapMyRun

MapMyRun is the number one selling running app for a reason: it is easy to use, offers community support if you want it, and tracks and stores your exact routes for you. If you are training for a race or a serious runner, users say that the extra perks in the upgraded paid version are well worth it.

MyFitnessPal

MyFitnessPal seems to be the clear favorite amongst everyone polled. It is helpful not only for the fitness tracking aspect, but everyone polled mentioned how much they loved the food/diet aspect as well. From carb counting for diabetics to recipe ideas to complement your fitness goals, users love this app.

JeFit

JeFit is another fitness app that has rave reviews. It not only tracks progress for you, but offers a huge database of workouts. While many apps offer community support, JeFit allows you to sync workouts with friends who use the app, offering a (real) virtual buddy system.

Strava

Strava gets the highest mark of all the cycling apps. While it is also great for runners, the cyclers seem particularly inclined towards the fierce competition that can be ignited by this app. You can track all of your rides via GPS, then you can compare your efforts to those logged by others in the community on the same stretch of road. You can also join ongoing challenges that can net you great prizes (in addition to bragging rights).

YogaStudio

YogaStudio gets the top vote for Yoga apps. It has a lengthy collection of full class-length videos available at your fingertips. Unlike many other apps, this one also allows you to customize your own video yoga class. All of the poses are done by qualified yoga instructors, and you can find classes suitable for all levels of yogis.

SimplyBeing

SimplyBeing meditation app offers the best of both worlds. You can choose to run this app as a background for your meditation with soothing music or natural sounds that run for a set amount of time. Conversely, for those of you who have trouble focusing during meditation, you can choose a soothing voice-guided meditation.

Fooducate

Fooducate is an app all about educating people so that they make healthier food choices. Although not perfect, this app is easy to use (you can even take pictures of bar codes to instantly find foods in their database). It gives food a letter grade, tells you the pluses and minuses, and gives you better ranked alternatives. You can also use it as a weight loss tool by tracking your daily calories.